Potential Crackdown on ‘Party Houses’

CAPE MAY – Council resolved to tackle two major issues during its upcoming meeting on Oct. 1: how to better deal with rental houses in the city and an update on the city’s stance concerning the school funding formula.
Councilman Jack Wichterman said Vito Gagliardi, who is representing Cape May in its attempt to withdraw from the regional school district, would like to meet with council to discuss how the city should proceed now that Lower Township has hired Francis Campbell to oppose the issue.
“Nobody, to my knowledge, in the City of Cape May wants to harm the educational system that we have down here,” said Wichterman during council’s meeting on Sept. 17. “All we want to do is make the funding more equitable.” Wichterman said that statements made in Lower Township portray Cape May and its council as “a bunch of terrible people that don’t want to take care of the kids.” While Wichterman admitted the battle to change the funding formula could take a long time, he was confident that the city would prevail. “We think we have a very good attorney,” said Wichterman. “He knows what he’s doing.”
The second issue to be addressed during next month’s work session concerns rental houses, or as some have called them, “party houses.” Mayor Edward Mahaney said that he and Deputy Mayor William Murray began researching the situation two years ago. “It’s becoming a growing problem and before it becomes something that’s attracting major quality of life issues and major negative publicity for the city, I’m going to recommend that we take hold of it,” said Mahaney.
Homeowners renting out their properties to accommodate large parties and weddings have become more common in the city and neighbor complaints regarding noise, parking, and trash have increased. Mahaney said the city needs to reexamine the ordinances currently in place so that if someone violates a particular ordinance, police are better equipped to issue the appropriate citations. As it stands now, disgruntled neighbors can only call the police to complain, resulting in one, two, and sometimes three warnings to the offending party.
Bonnie Pontin, innkeeper at the John Wesley Inn, said she and her guests were forced to endure loud music and revelry for hours on Sept. 14 as a wedding party celebrated next door. “It was such an egregious breach of privacy, I can’t even tell you,” Pontin said. “Windows were closed, air conditioners were on. It was unbelievable.”
Pontin called the police three separate times between 3 p.m. and 12:30 a.m., but each time the music resumed a short time later. “Within 15 minutes that volume was back up,” Pontin explained.
Other resort communities have been looking at this issue, most notably the Borough of Avalon. Since last year, neighbors surrounding a rental home on the 200 block of 48th Street had taken numerous complaints to council. As a result Avalon Borough Council passed an ordinance on Oct. 24, 2012 that allows fines from $100 to $1,250 for rental homes violating occupancy or noise regulations.
Murray, who said he spoke to people in Avalon, was sympathetic to Pontin’s plight. “I agree with you 100 percent,” Murray said. “It happens in my neighborhood too and it’s very annoying. Folks like yourself deserve the comfort and enjoyment of their own properties here in Cape May.”
Murray vowed to get the proper laws and penalties in place. To start, he and Mahaney spoke about acquiring decibel readers for officers to utilize when responding to noise complaints.
“This is going to be a very interesting dialogue amongst all of the people in the community as this moves forward,” Mahaney said. “Because you’re probably going to have as many people against this as you’re going to have for it.”